I swear I’m not a big complainer but yesterday, come ON! As if my hideous commute wasn’t bad enough. I left work about an hour and a half early in the hopes of making it home alive in the ice BUT with the WORST headache I have probably ever had. It was so bad in fact that 2 Aleve wouldn’t touch it and I now have myself convinced that I either have a brain tumor and am going to die OR I sneezed too hard a few weeks ago and I now have a pin prick sized hole in my spinal column and am leaking spinal fluid into my mouth (it leaves a metallic taste, swear I’ve got this) and therefore I don’t have enough fluid so therefore my brain is resting again my skull. I saw this on Mystery Diagnosis once.

In the meantime, until my doctor confirms either of my theories, I was in blinding pain. I got home, NO WAY was I working out. BUT I had just enough stamina to make dinner. Oh of course I did. Funny how that happens.

We had almost 2 Lbs of chicken breast thawed and while Matt was looking up chicken empanadas recipes (which I reminded him you have to fry and we have no idea how to fry things but I appreciate the effort!) I talked him into HIS favorite, a comfort food classic with a twist: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie with Stuffing.

Now I know, this goes against just about everything I’m suppose to be doing/eating. This isn’t healthy, I’m not going to even try to keep up any pretenses of such, but oh my GOODNESS. You need to make this!

Now the stuffing addition may sound a bit odd but it’s a genius move of my “mother in-law’s” (I can’t technically call her this as I’m not married to Matt but she might as well be). Peggy (mom in law) tends to cook very basic stuff as she has picky eaters at home (i.e. her husband and Matt’s brother), however, make no mistakes, the lady has skills! I had never cooked my homemade chicken pot pie with stuffing before but I had about a 1/3 of a bag left so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

(I apologize for the crappy pictures. I promise to get a new battery for my REAL camera soon so I can take better pictures than with my stupid cellphone camera..oh and to fix the other light in the kitchen so you can actually SEE the food.)

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie with Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 prepared pie crusts (raw) (I usually make extra when I make this from scratch and keep them in the freezer)

1-2 lbs chicken breast

2 medium or 3 small carrots diced

1 large onion diced

1 stalk of celery diced

1 cup of frozen peas (I only had about a 1/3 of a cup 😦 )

2 cloves of garlic minced and set aside

1/3 of a bag of stuffing (or about 2 cups I’d say, maybe 1 and 1/2?)

Gravy:

Low Sodium Chicken Stock

Butter, 5 Tbs. divided into 2 Tbs. and then 3 Tbs.

3 Tbs. flour

2-3 Tbs. Cream Sherry

3-4 Tbs. Wild Cheff Sagebrush Blend (you need to get some. Trust me it’s worth it. If you DON’T have some you could try to add about 1 Tbs. each sage, rosemary, and thyme but no guarantees it’ll be as good!)

1/2 cup of milk (optional)

Instructions:

Roll one of your pie crusts into a 9in pie plate and set aside.

Peel & dice carrots and set aside (these need to cook longer than the rest of the filling)

wipe celery stalk with a clean wet towel and dice as well ( you can add more if you like celery but I find it’s not too popular and easily overpowers)

dice onion and add to celery.

peel and mince garlic and set aside (you wont be cooking this until you make your gravy)

Add stuffing to a large bowl. Add 2 Tbs. of melted butter and toss to coat. Now add chicken stock. I don’t bother heating the stock, but simply adding it in small amounts, tossing continuously until just SLIGHTLY moist. You want to use a little less liquid than it calls for as it will soak up moisture when baked.

Cook chicken in 1 Tbs. olive oil stirring periodically until mostly cooked (it will continue to cook in the oven) about 5-8 minutes (depending on how small you cut it).

Remove from pot and add to bowl with stuffing.

Add frozen peas to bowl with stuffing & chicken.

Add another Tbs. of oil to the pot and saute carrots for 3-4 minutes.

Add onions and celery and continue to cook for another 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Remove vegetables from the pot and place in the large bowl with other fillings (chicken and stuffing) and toss all together to combine.

Return the pot to the stove and add 3 Tbs. of butter. Let the butter foam slightly and then add garlic (I told you it was coming back!) and cook for about 30 seconds.

whisk in 3 Tbs. of flour (this is your roux).

Add Sherry (this is a very sweet cooking liquor, be careful not to add to much. I suggest trying a little first if you are new to it) whisking continuously.

Add milk, slowly while whisking continuously.

Add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock. REMEMBER! anything with a roux does not reach it’s full thickness until it has come to a boil! So moral of the story? Add some stock (maybe about a 1/2 a cup), raise the heat to medium/high and see where it gets you, whisking continuously.

Add your Wild Cheff Sagebrush Blend and whisk to blend.

Add your gravy (once you have reached your desired consistency. It should look like gravy, simple.) to the large bowl and toss lightly to combine all of your filling. (smells great doesn’t it? 😉 )

Now pour your mixture into your prepared pie shell and spread out evenly.

Lay the second pie crust over the top, folding over the edges and pinching to seal.

Cut 4 slits in the top for steam ventilation. You can brush your pie with an egg wash but why bother?

Place onto a baking sheet covered with tin foil to prevent a mess in your oven from any leakage.

Bake 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown like so:

Now I know this doesn’t look so beautiful but I promise you it’s the best chicken pot pie you will ever have! TONS of flavor and it sure hit the spot last night.

Now I was in bed early last night and up early this morning to compensate for my workout but I can feel the headache coming back already! (why? WHY?!) so it’s a good thing I already got my workout out of the way!

I think this weekend calls for the return of Combat on Saturday mornings (oh how I love the way it hurts) and possibly RPM (spinning) at the OTHER gym because my stupid gym owners have decided to NOT bring back the very popular RPM class at MY gym because, you know you can just go to the other one. Uhm I already drive 30 minutes to my gym and other one is 45 minutes away and it the opposite direction as my work! Stupid jerks. I’m pretty far beyond furious about this. They just do not get it, and I’m not the only one that feels this way. There are several of us that are not going to drive the extra 15 minutes to the other gym.

Well I’m done fuming for the moment BUT I’ll see you all tomorrow. Make this chicken pot pie, and just see how happy YOU will be with the results 🙂

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About Lindsey @ trail to train

I'm a (somewhat) normal girl with slightly unusal ideas about everything. I do fitness my way because thats the only way I know how and my extensive mishmashed knowledge of food and cooking to make great, fast, healthy meals.

4 Responses to Homemade Chicken Pot Pie with Stuffing

Yeah trust me it is SOOO yummy especially if you are a big stuffing fan like me. That Peggy, she’s got some good tricks up her sleeve! The Sherry in the gravy adds a really nice flavor too and you need to get yourself some Wild Cheff Sagebrush blend. You will find yourself using it on every piece of poultry imaginable! Lol I know I sound bias because I work with him now but his stuff is extraordinarily good!
P.S. Hope your feeling better! Stay away from the bread & cream cheese! 😉